


In Words Writ Large

by tmelange



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Superman Returns (2006)
Genre: M/M, Third Person POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-02
Updated: 2011-08-02
Packaged: 2017-10-22 03:26:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/233219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmelange/pseuds/tmelange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superman's departure for Krypton and the effects it has on the Wayne family household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Words Writ Large

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2006.

Dick took it hard, Alfred with his usual stoicism, his first thought for the person whose welfare had been his primary concern for the past twenty years.

"I am quite certain Superman had a good reason for leaving, Master Dick," Alfred assured the young boy calmly, as he poured his juice.

The newest addition to the Wayne family was clearly distraught at the news plastered on the front page of the morning paper in bold letters: _Superman Abandons Earth for Krypton! Who Will Save Us Now?_ Alfred had to refrain from reaching out and giving the precocious eight-year-old a hug. Bruce would not appreciate him coddling the boy.

"But Alfred! He said he was my friend." Dick looked down at his bowl of oatmeal. His voice lowered to a whisper. "He didn't even say goodbye."

"He will be back, Master Dick. I am sure of it." Alfred looked quickly at his older charge, as the master of the house set his paper down carefully and got up from the table. His food, his coffee, was untouched.

"I'll drive myself into the office today, Alfred."

Alfred sighed. "Very well."

:-:

Three days later, Alfred was at wits end.

His employer, never much of a gourmand in the best of times, became positively _difficult,_ refusing to eat even his favorite foods which Alfred painstakingly prepared to entice him out of his doldrums. And that blasted cave! Never had Alfred so seriously considered blowing the damn place to smithereens. It had taken more than his usual taciturn cajoling—it had taken an actual threat to leave his employ—to convince Bruce to return to the main portion of the house.

 _Superman._ Alfred did not pretend to understand the trials and tribulations of a superhero such as Krypton's last son, but certainly, upon his return, Superman would require a stern talking to.

Alfred only hoped the Man of Steel returned soon.

"Coffee, sir?" Alfred asked, standing in front of his employer. Bruce was sitting behind his desk in the study, ostensibly working with papers arranged and pen in hand, but Alfred had noticed him in the same pose for the past five minutes. "Will you take lunch in the kitchens with Master Dick, today, sir?" Alfred tried, already knowing the answer.

"No, thank you, Alfred," Bruce said, looking up. "I'm not hungry at the moment. I'll eat later."

Alfred wondered if his charge realized just how clearly his face broadcasted his every emotion—but, perhaps, he was the only one who could interpret the small frown, the tightness around the eyes, the delicate loss of _balance_ that was the distinct Wayne Family intangible.

"He'll be back, sir," Alfred said, in a sure voice.

Bruce's look turned hard. "Who?"

Alfred _tsk-ed,_ frowning his disapproval. _"Master Bruce."_

Bruce slammed his pen on the desk and got to his feet. He stalked to the door of the study, passing through. "Fine," he said. His tone, while not disrespectful, was clipped. "You obviously want me to have lunch. Let's have lunch."

The atmosphere in the kitchens, usually informal, was seeped in tension. Even the boy could feel it.

"Is something wrong?" Dick asked, settling in his usual chair.

"Nothing is wrong, young sir," Alfred assured him, setting out meats and breads and glancing sternly in Bruce's direction. Bruce was again buried behind the day's newspaper—the science section this time—and it was clear his silent reprimand would have no effect. "Some of us have a difficult time dealing with disappointments," Alfred continued, talking to the boy but crafting his words for the benefit of the man, "and have to learn not to take our ill humor out on the people around us. Life is often filled with disappointments, and the sooner we learn to appreciate what we have and not mourn what we have lost, the better off we shall be."

Dick smiled. "Okay," he agreed, happily reaching for the salad. "Can I have cake for dessert?"

Alfred sighed, a small, unnoticeable exhalation of breath. "Eat your lunch first, Master Dick," he said, and turned his attention to the man. "Sir, may I fix you a plate?"

No response.

"Master Bruce, this is not the way—"

Alfred was startled when Bruce abruptly moved, looking up with his intense blue eyes, then folding the newspaper into fours and setting it on the table next to his plate. He rested a hand on it. His fingers began an aggressive tapping on the paper, creating a galloping rhythm that caused Alfred to look down at it and then up into eyes that held the first spark of interest Alfred had seen there since the news of Superman's departure broke.

"Yes, Alfred," Bruce said, and, perhaps, it was only Alfred, the person who had made the care of Bruce Wayne his primary concern for twenty years, who would have noticed the lessening of the tension around the eyes, the small upturn of lips. "You can fix me a plate."

:-:

As the scientists predicted, the unique anomaly appeared in the sky seven days later.

They named it _Mercury's Comet_ —at least, that was the popular name since the scientist who had discovered it and calculated its orbit was named Paul Smith, and the imagination of the masses simply wouldn't tolerate a boring name like _Smith's_ Comet for such an exciting phenomenon. The first time it appeared, it was visible in the sky to the naked eye for a full thirty days, which was exciting enough, as the newspapers explained, since most comets were too faint to be visible without the aid of a telescope.

But it was only after the Great Comet had manifested, and the scientists had time to study it, that they realized the comet was actually periodic, one of only a dozen such comets to ever appear in the skies over Earth, and the only one of such brightness and with such a short orbit—its path to Mercury and around, and around the sun, twice, before appearing in the skies over Earth again exactly eleven months later for its month-long sojourn.

Although many people across the world thought the comet's appearance to be unlucky or a sign of bad things to come, Alfred was most happy with the comet's impact on the day-to-day life around Wayne Manor. His employer was the most malleable when engrossed in the study of the thing, and when it was visible—Master Bruce was positively charming around the house. Most importantly, the phenomenon served as a bridge between his young charge and his older, and it was a pleasure to see the boy and the man bond over their celestial pastime.

Surely, it was only a small difficultly to provide beverage service and some small snacks on the roof of the manor, where his charges could often be found with telescopes and orbital charts and equipment that would put the Gotham Observatory to shame.

Yes, _Mercury's Comet_ was a godsend to the Wayne household—the phenomenon that visited the Earth like clockwork for four years, that was so aptly named: Mercury, for the fleet-footed messenger of the Gods, the planet closest to the sun that could only be seen in the twilight, between the shadows and the dawn.

"The Hebrews called Mercury _Kokhav Hamah,"_ Alfred heard Bruce explain to young Master Dick as he set a tray down, "the star of the hot one, the star of the sun…"

:-:

 **Epilogue**

Batman stood on the roof of the Gotham City courthouse in the dusk before dawn on the anniversary of the first appearance of _Mercury's Comet,_ five years ago in the skies over his city. He was well-versed in the reports of how the comet's orbit had decayed in its travel around the sun, and how it had broken up into two masses and then dissolved in its last perihelion passage. No, Batman wasn't expecting to see _Mercury's Comet_ again; he was waiting for a phenomenon of another sort. When it arrived, it was with the grace and beauty of an angel falling down from heaven.

Only the rising sun broke the stillness with its penetrating rays, dispersing shadows.

"You left," Batman said in a quiet voice to the man standing on his left.

"I had to go, to see for myself."

Batman nodded. He released his grappling hook, shot it clear across the slowly brightening sky.

He paused before the jump, glancing to his heart-side and taking his fill of an oft-missed profile.

"I got your letters," he said as he jumped. _In words writ large across the sky._ "I waited."

 _finis_


End file.
